60% of potential customers are more likely to consider or contact a business when an image shows up in local search.

If you want visitors to stay on your site, be engaged, and perhaps even buy something, you need to post images and the WordPress photo gallery is a great way to showcase a number of photos in one place. For example, you may want to highlight a grouping of products, portfolio samples, or team member head shots.

WordPress provides a few options for the look and feel of your photo gallery.

Thumbnail Grid: The thumbnail grid is the default WordPress photo gallery option. It allows you to set up a row of images that enlarge when clicked on.

Tiled Mosaic: The tiled mosaic setting places your images in rows and columns across the page.

Square Tiles: This grid evenly crops each of your photos for a professional look.

Circles: Same as square tiles, but circle shapes instead!

Slideshow: The slideshow creates a large moving carousel of your photos.

Customized: You always have the option of customizing the shape and size of each of your photos.

Here’s how to get started:

Step 1: First, load the images you’d like to add to your gallery. Do this by clicking on Media in the sidebar, followed by Add New. Here you’ll be able to upload all of the images you’d like to use for your website. You also have the option of adding an image by URL.

Step 2: Now you’re ready to add the images you want to the page of your choice. From the sidebar, click on Pages and then on Add Media. Select each of the images you’d like to add to your photo gallery. You’ll see a number on your chosen photos that confirms which ones have been selected. Then click on Continue.

Step 3: Here you get to choose the type of gallery you want from the Layout dropdown. You may also choose the number of columns in which you’d like to present your images. Test out a few options until you find the one you like best. This is an example of Circles in two columns.

Once published to your site, you’ll notice that if you click on one image, all of them will appear as a photo gallery carousel where site visitors may click through each enlarged photograph.

Yay! Cat photos win the internet! Not really, please don’t post cat photo galleries, but if you do, be sure to follow these steps and do it right!